Call us today at 1 800 347-0645 to book YOUR customized train vacation!
Trip Report: September 22 to October 19, 2003
by Ted & Sylvia Blishak
Fall Colors Coast to Coast - by Land and Sea
September 23, 2003
CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR
Although Amtrak's Trains No. 5 and 6 share the name of the Chicago- to-Oakland Domeliner introduced in 1949, it bears little resemblance to that once famous train. However, today's California Zephyr covers a goodly portion of the same route that the Burlington Route, Rio Grande, and Western Pacific railroads selected as the scenic way to the West. Today's Superliner train travels from Chicago to Denver on the former Burlington Route, which is now a part of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe. From Denver to Salt Lake City, it traverses the route of the Denver and Rio Grande Western, now a part of the Union Pacific, through the Moffet Tunnel and along the Colorado River. From Salt Lake City west, it follows the route of the original Western Pacific across the Utah/Nevada deserts and along the Humboldt River, but instead of veering north to the Feather River Canyon of California, it takes the original Southern Pacific route through Reno and across Donner Pass to Sacramento and on to Oakland.
Instead of the popular Vista Domes of the original train, we now have the double deck Superliner Lounge Café car. But the scenery is the same for today's passengers as it was for those fortunates who viewed the West through the blue-green tinted windows of the Budd-built domes which operated from 1949 through 1969. We awaken this morning as the CZ climbs around the horseshoe curves of Soldier Summit. Placing our names on the breakfast list, we enjoy traversing Castle Gate sitting in the upper level of the Lounge Café.
Breakfast is being served in only one half of the dining car, in spite of the full load on today's train. We learn that as a cost-saving measure, half of the dining car crew is removed from the train at Helper, Utah, as the CZ heads west. This crew is then picked up the next morning by the eastbound CZ. Therefore, between Helper, Utah, and Oakland, California, the dining car is understaffed, and meal times are extended as a result. We noticed Monday night that the dining car steward was making the last call for dinner at 10:30 pm, therefore we were glad that we had dined at the Martin Hotel before boarding. This is just one of the many egregious examples of cost savings measures that Amtrak's President David Gunn is forced to take to compensate for the starvation budget he is forced to work with by our Congress and Administration.
TIP FOR FUTURE AMTRAK TRAVELERS: Contact both your senators and your federal house representative TODAY! Amtrak's future hangs in the balance once again, Congress is about to appropriate funding, and we need to urge them to approve sufficient funds this time or the passenger rail system may be shut down for good.
We purchase a bottle of juice from the snack bar as we wait to be called to breakfast. Eventually we hear one of our fellow waiting-list passengers announce that she heard a call for us to proceed to the diner. We were pleased to find out that the staff was in a pleasant mood in spite of these conditions, and I enjoyed hot coffee, scrambled eggs, sausage patties, and pancakes. Sylvia has oatmeal, yogurt, a fruit cup, and herbal tea. Even with the throwaway plastic plates and plastic flatware, the meal is excellent. At appropriately named Helper, the fresh crew boards, and from that point on, the dining car has adequate staff to serve this sold-out train.
We enjoy the views along the colorful Book Cliffs as the Zephyr speeds along this desolate part of the Utah desert towards Green River. This area is dry, bare ground, with some unusual rock formations. Yet it has its own stark beauty. There being very little vegetation, there is no fall color to observe, but as we leave Grand Junction, the scene becomes more and more colorful with glowing yellow and red trees as we gradually make the all-day climb towards the summit of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.
Lunch is called at noon and we are fortunate enough, or fast enough, to make it from the third sleeper to the diner in time to be in the first come, first served sitting. We meet a lady from Salinas, California, and her elderly aunt, who are making their first Amtrak trip, heading for Osceola, Iowa, to visit family in Des Moines. They confided that fast-growing Salinas, a stop on Amtrak's Coast Starlight route, has become a tourist destination by honoring their most famous citizen, author John Steinbeck, with a restaurant and a museum located in his former home.
They indicated they could have gotten there faster by air, but were both sick of flying. I could sympathize with them, as I had taken my last flight in 1996, one of the happiest decisions I have ever made. I have not missed airports, security checks, airline meals, noisy, claustrophobic jetliners, and harried flight crews.
The Zephyr now rolls through a naked desert of dried mud and fantastic rock formations. With no trees, and the barest hint of sage, it presents an almost Martian landscape. Yet, somehow, pronghorn antelope, which we see out the window, survive here. Then suddenly we're among juniper-covered hills, and soon afterwards, towering red cliffs looming hundreds of feet above the tracks. Huge landslide rocks larger than houses litter the landscape.
We walked the platform at our Grand Junction service stop. There is a gift shop and snack bar inside the station and a fruit and vegetable stand out on the platform. The weather is balmy, a far cry from our visit here in July, when the afternoon temperature was 106 F.
If you blink, the landscape changes. Now we're following the Colorado River.
Our next stop is Glenwood Springs, gateway to Glenwood Canyon and the higher reaches of the Rocky Mountain country. As we gain altitude, there is more and more fall color. Nearing the summit of the Front Range, there are vast tracts of golden aspen trees on the wooded slopes. Just before entering the Moffet Tunnel, at 10,000 feet, we pass through thick stands of aspen, illuminated from behind by the late afternoon sun. An announcement is made not to move between cars due to the fumes and coal dust inside this lengthy bore. We pass huge stacks of ties, all kinds of Maintenance of Way equipment, then darkness. There is a brief moment of anxiety as our train stops momentarily within the tunnel, but no announcement is made, and we quickly resume.
At the east portal, there is more M of W equipment arranged artistically on the wye which was once the horseshoe curve leading to the long abandoned Rollins Pass line. We can see the old roadbed, now a jeep road, which crossed the Front Range at 12,000 feet before Moffet Tunnel was constructed. With its multiple loops and tight horseshoe bends, adjacent to the lofty Indian Peaks Wilderness, that torturous route would have added an extra 1-1/2 hours to the crossing of these magnificent Colorado Rockies. Much longer during the winter, when this lofty route was plagued with so much snow that passengers were occasionally asked to help dig the train out of drifts.
Rolling downgrade now, we pass huge piles of ballast and crossties. Big track improvements must be in the works here. We descent along a rushing mountain stream, through stands of pines punctuated with electric yellow aspens, some just in the process of turning pale red. Winds make the trees bend and shiver.
We're on the sunset side of the Rockies now, and the pancake-flat Great Plains spread out below. Denver, at 5,000+ feet, with its suburbs, stretches as far as the eye can see and is gilded with the waning sun. Throughout our day, the varying geography has featured horizontal strata, now red slabs of rock tilt at a 45-degree angle.
The grade is gentle and we descend swiftly, before we know it we are on the level plain and entering Denver, where we will have a service stop. But there is no rush to the doors yet, as a lengthy turn and backup move is required to reach Union Station. In the process, we pick up a private car, which is sandwiched between the last sleeper and the mail cars behind.
Denver Union Station is a lively place, in a lively neighborhood. The Wyncoop Brewing Company restaurant is across the street and the Oxford House Hotel just down the block, in this revitalized neighborhood. Light rail vehicles enter the station. We used to call them streetcars.
Departing Denver one hour behind schedule, we go to the diner for the last sitting at 8:30pm, but are shooed away, as the crew is still cleaning up after the preceding sitting. In the Lounge Café they are playing the soundtrack of an indeterminate movie, but the TV monitor is dark. We return to our compartment and wait for the 8:30 sitting, which is finally called at 9pm. At dinner we meet an entrepreneurial maker of toy soldiers, based here in Denver. His business is booming, especially in the Civil War line of figures.
Are steak and baked potato is excellently prepared to order and served with a bottle of Merlot. As we speed across the Great Plains of Colorado, we are happy to turn in after a day filled with the wonders of the West.
